buying insurance through Costco

[dickinson]

I saw that the cruise policy was back up on the site. I booked my cruise through a different TA this past week end. I called TravelGuard to confirm I could still book this policy but they said it is only back up online for those people who booked before May 1. Boo Hoo. Now I have to spend more on travel insurance than before. I used a different agency as I got a better deal on the cruise so I guess that will make up for the extra I have to pay on cruise insurance. Cruise insurance is expensive as one gets older. This old policy didn't ask for age so was much less expensive.

[marsworth75]

I believe that they gave the confirmation numbers for all the cruises booked before change in policy. That's what they use to give the quote

 

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[anthonyy7]

I just decided to start looking for insurance. I booked thru Costco last Sept with final payment next month. I'll make a few calls to get this sorted out, sounds like they have or had the best deal? Never cruised or booked travel ins before but since this trip is costing as much as a new car, why not? Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep you posted.

[Sundiego]

I just decided to start looking for insurance. I booked thru Costco last Sept with final payment next month. I'll make a few calls to get this sorted out, sounds like they have or had the best deal? Never cruised or booked travel ins before but since this trip is costing as much as a new car, why not? Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep you posted.

 

Go to this site: http://www.travelguard.com/costcotravel/ click on "get a quote" and follow through until you see the option for cruise insurance. You will need your Costco booking number. Hurry before this goes poof again. Right now the rates are not age-rated, and I believe you will see the pre-existing condition waiver on the policy you purchase (although not knowing all your dates, I don't know how your request will be treated).

[anthonyy7]

Thanks, I'm looking at that site now. Do I put the total cost of the trip incl the cruise in the trip cost or just the so far non-refund airline tickets I've already purchased. It says costs to date and I've yet to make a final payment.

[anthonyy7]

I just called them with my Q's and booked, the pricing was really good compared to other sites. $150 for the cruise alone. Thanks!

[Sundiego]

I just called them with my Q's and booked, the pricing was really good compared to other sites. $150 for the cruise alone. Thanks!

 

Awesome, glad you got the coverage before they changed the pricing structure (again). Enjoy your cruise :)

[nana541]

Still nothing from Costco :(

 

 

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[killineybay]

Just found out about this today. We booked a cruise on Reflection on May 4 and just got back Friday. I called Costco today to confirm it and only found out about the ins. change because I asked if it was still the same. I then called TravelGuard and initially was told I was too late for the preexisting waiver as it had to be made within 14 days (I thought it was 21). The rep. then told me as I booked at sea and only confirmed with Costco today that they will give me another 14 days. The rate is twice as high as it was before. We think we may cancel. We have booked several cruises through Costco and feel the least they could have done was notify those with booked cruises. We have another cruise booked for Feb. and were told the old plan will apply. If not, I may cancel that too. I hope people find out this change and are not in for a big shock when they go to make their final payment.

[killineybay]

As a follow up to my last email I have been told that I am past the date to book insurance with a pre-existing condition through Travel Guard. It has to be booked within 14 days because of the state I live in and I was overseas. Costco is looking into this for me and not sure if they can get an extension from Travel Guard or not as I was told. Am looking into other options....

[nana541]

Can you cancel and re-book preserving your Cruiseline onboard booking benefits.... I know some cruiselines allow you to take advantage of those Benefits within 30 days of getting home...

 

 

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[killineybay]

Costco told me they tried to rebook me but Celebrity said I would loose the credits I got for booking onboard. I think I might call Celebrity myself. We could use their insurance but it is very light coverage. Even if Travel Guard does let us book their insurance it is very high - $671 for the 2 of us which we would lose if we had to cancel. Too bad Travel Guard has changed their agreement with Costco as their coverage is good.

[nana541]

I'm pretty sure, no make that certain, that the "powers in charge" at Costco Travel knew weeks if not months ago and have failed to warn their existing clients....

Leaves a very bad taste in my mouth!

 

I blame Costco for not protecting existing clients, Travel Guard is just protecting their bottom line and I'm sure they did not do this overnite.... Costco had plenty of warning and just decided to not warn their customers!

 

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Edited May 20, 2014 by nana541

[killineybay]

nana541, I am sure you are right and will no longer book with Costco. I was told I would be called this evening with information on my cruise but have heard nothing. The incentive for me to book with Costco as well as many other people was being able to get insurance at reasonable costs at final payment. Now that is gone I am not interested in booking a cruise and having to pay inflated insurance costs over a year ahead of final payment. I feel Costco let down their loyal customers.

[nana541]

While I am certainly disappointed in their handling of this issue, I won't say NEVER.... I will of course check to see who is most competitive and provides the best benefits. Obviously the Travel Insurance is no longer one of those great benefits!

 

I am grateful I found out about this BIG BIG change in benefits offered...thank you fellow Cruise a Critic members for bringing this to my attention, sadly very few cruisers actually read CC and still do not know that this benefit is gone.

 

I have protected my cruise and paid for our travel insurance more than 13 months before I was told I had to pay for it!

 

Not a happy cruiser/customer of the big C....

 

 

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Edited May 20, 2014 by nana541

[dickinson]

nana541, I am sure you are right and will no longer book with Costco. I was told I would be called this evening with information on my cruise but have heard nothing. The incentive for me to book with Costco as well as many other people was being able to get insurance at reasonable costs at final payment. Now that is gone I am not interested in booking a cruise and having to pay inflated insurance costs over a year ahead of final payment. I feel Costco let down their loyal customers.

 

Because of all this it spurred me to book elsewhere (I started looking at cruises April 30 but didn't call them til May 2 when I found out about the insurance situation). It actually turned out well for me as I found another TA whom I used about 12 years ago. I saved $175 more than I would have if you use the new rules about insurance. Insurance, on the other hand, is going to cost me a lot AND I will have to pay for it by this Saturday to be covered for pre-existing conditions. If it had been under the old guidelines I would have booked with Costco because the insurance would have saved me money and given me flexibility as my cruise isn't til February.

 

I will check with them next time in case things have changed by then.

[hobo1937]

Just wanted to let everyone know about another issue that could come up with the new Costco Travelguard Insurance preexisting conditions and future cruise credits.

 

Travelguard considers the date you purchase a future cruise credit as your initial trip payment date. So in order to get preexisting condition coverage you would have to buy a policy within 21 days of buying the future cruise credit. What is crazy is that at that point you don't have a cruise cost or date..I assume you would insure the trip for the cost of the future cruise credit and pick an date sometime in the future. Sounds like too much hassle to me. Here is the link to an article about this subject from the Trip Insurance Store website. They are a great source of information.

 

http://tripinsurancestore.com/initial-trip-deposit-date/

 

There was discussion about Travelguard and initial trip payments on the Holland boards.

[killineybay]

Just wanted to let everyone know about another issue that could come up with the new Costco Travelguard Insurance preexisting conditions and future cruise credits.

 

Travelguard considers the date you purchase a future cruise credit as your initial trip payment date. So in order to get preexisting condition coverage you would have to buy a policy within 21 days of buying the future cruise credit. What is crazy is that at that point you don't have a cruise cost or date..I assume you would insure the trip for the cost of the future cruise credit and pick an date sometime in the future. Sounds like too much hassle to me. Here is the link to an article about this subject from the Trip Insurance Store website. They are a great source of information.

 

http://tripinsurancestore.com/initial-trip-deposit-date/

 

There was discussion about Travelguard and initial trip payments on the Holland boards.

Thanks for pointing this out. It would never have occurred to me.

[dickinson]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek:

 

That is terrible! I'm going through tripinsurancestore.com and going with Global Alert. I looked at the link and called them too. My receipt from my TA just shows a $200 deposit without specifying that it was a future cruise credit. Presumably that would have been good with Travelguard if I used them. I really think that it is lousy of these companies not to honor it. One is not booking a specific cruise with specific dates when purchasing them but only an interest in possibly cruising again. With Princess it is refundable if not used within two years. No way should that be considered a deposit by any company.

 

I would have been up the creek (if I had needed to use it) if I purchased my cruise through Costco and then used Travelguard!

[usviking]

Just wanted to let everyone know about another issue that could come up with the new Costco Travelguard Insurance preexisting conditions and future cruise credits.

 

Travelguard considers the date you purchase a future cruise credit as your initial trip payment date. So in order to get preexisting condition coverage you would have to buy a policy within 21 days of buying the future cruise credit. What is crazy is that at that point you don't have a cruise cost or date..I assume you would insure the trip for the cost of the future cruise credit and pick an date sometime in the future. Sounds like too much hassle to me. Here is the link to an article about this subject from the Trip Insurance Store website. They are a great source of information.

 

http://tripinsurancestore.com/initial-trip-deposit-date/

 

There was discussion about Travelguard and initial trip payments on the Holland boards.

 

 

This caught my attention. We use unspecified future cruise deposits/credits with Princess and have used Travel Guard exclusively the past few years -- whether direct or through Costco.

 

I just got off the phone with Travel Guard. The Travel Guard rep has informed me that Travel Guard has seen two types of future cruise credits. One is for a specified travel date in the future and the other is for an unspecified travel date.

 

If the credit is for a specified travel date then the date this credit is purchased becomes the initial deposit date.

 

If the credit is for an unspecified travel date then the date it is applied to a specific booking becomes the initial deposit date.

 

I urge anyone else with concern over this to call Travel Guard direct to make certain that we all get the same answer.

.

[nana541]

What a mess!

 

 

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[cherylandtk]

If you want to keep this thread going, it might be wise to use Big Box Store in place of the actual name of the specific agency. And definitely do not discuss other aspects of the agency's performance.

 

As for insurance, this is a very good reminder that policies, whether custom (as sold by the BBS) or available to the general public or as sold by the cruiseline are always subject to change. It is vital that you read the DoC every single time you purchase insurance, and probably wise to print out the DOC on your date of purchase.

[nana541]

Yep it is now based on age and price of the trip. Frankly for a spendy cruise insuring cruisers of a "certain" age and above to include pre-existing Medical.... $400+ per person is NOT out of line when you consider and compare Apples to Apples.

If you are getting considerably lower premiums then you are getting an Apples vs Oranges comparison and as long as the Orange policy covers your needs, then it works for you!

 

The old policy they offered Costco members (which I managed to get) is significantly different than the "new" policy in terms of expand coverage.

So the new policy is much better but we had been spoiled by the $$ of the old.

 

 

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[NemoCrownie]

Just want to post an FYI for anyone who booked their cruise with Costco prior to May 1. Thanks to my girlfriend, I called TravelGuard at the number provided on Costco's website. Because we had booked our upcoming cruise prior to May 1, 2014 and we were before final payment, the travel insurance policy is under the terms of the prior policy agreement; i.e, air is insured but amount is not included in total trip cost, it is not based on age, no pre-existing medical condition restrictions, 3 hour flight delay, $3,000 pp baggage, etc.

 

Note, when I went to TravelGuard through Costco Travels website the insurance was under the current terms even though I had entered the booking date. I did not have to ask for anything as the representative informed me that since my cruise was booked prior to May 1 it was under the old policy terms.

[attilamom1217]

I recently booked a couple of cruises with Costco. For my cruise next November, I used a different travel insurance company - basically the same coverage as Travel Guard, but ALOT LESS!!!!!!

 

I will use Travel Guard through Costco for my January cruise - it is much cheaper than other companies.

 

I did a comparison through insuremytrip.com for both cruises.

 

I was disappointed in September to learn of the change in the policy that you have to buy the insurance within 21 days instead of the within 24 hours of final payment in the past. We had to purchase the insurance 14 months before our cruise - not happy about that.

 

Unless the Costco/Travel Guard insurance changes back to the old policy, I will continue to shop my insurance when i book a cruise. I will continue to use Costco as my TA for my cruises as I like the OBC they give.